Spreading The News (1904 ) premiered as part of a set of plays staged for the grand opening of the Irish National Theatre 's home , which was the Abbey Theatre . The play was penned by Lady Augusta Gregory , one of the illustrious founders of the National Theatre , and was performed alongside others acknowledged for being

tragedies . Spreading The News was strategically placed to act as a counterpoint to the heavier plays because of its comic nature , yet was merely dismissed as a farce (Cusack , 2004 . However , the Lady Gregory 's play later turned out to be one of the National Theatre 's most popular performances , enjoying frequent revivals throughout the years . To this day , Spreading The News remains a staple in high school productions owing to its simplicity and outward lightness in tone and manner - yet a deeper analysis would reveal that it conveys subversive themes . Within its humor and wit lies a complexity that intellectually challenges the audience , and speaks of a significance exclusive to its origins

Lady Gregory was born Isabella Augusta Persse on March 15 , 1852 in west Ireland 's Galway county , where Gaelic is still widely spoken . She was given the noble title upon her marriage in 1881 to Sir William Gregory of Coole Park , who counts many accomplishments to his name : being member of Parliament was Ceylon 's former governor , and friend to Anthony Trollope , renowned English novelist . Given these considerations , it is not surprising that Lady Gregory would have a personal goal to study native Irish legends even more impressive is her translation of these into Kiltartanese , a dialect she invented referring to Galway 's Kiltartan region . Lady Gregory soon began a collaboration with legendary writer William Butler Yeats , who credited her for her contributions in the dialects found in his plays (Novel Guide , 1998

II . Spreading the News of Comedy

The lighthearted play , which is set during a village fair in the fictional village of Cloon , is classified as a comedy . Comedy is a type of drama that illustrates several elements that contribute to the action in the play , as well as to the themes : some of them are reversals of fortune , errors and misperceptions in judgment , and demonstrations of human weakness . However , unlike its alter ego tragedy , comedy uses these elements to culminate in happiness also , the protagonists are often one-dimensional and are of ordinary nature , unlike those is tragedies (DiYanni , 1990 , 1986 . Cloon is patterned after the author 's own town , and is the newest district supervised by the British Magistrate who just came from a successful job as a prison warden in the Andaman Islands . Upon perceiving dis in the village fair , he questions Mrs . Tarpey , an apple vendor , regarding the fair 's business The woman answered with the single most significant line in the...